The Last Time
by spockandawe
Summary: Lin and Tenzin's relationship falls apart. Rated for sex.


The last time Tenzin and Lin had sex was angry and bitter. She could tell from the moment she walked into his house and saw his face that something was wrong. He jumped guiltily, refused to look her in the eye, and replied to her questions with single-syllable answers. She felt a momentary surge of suspicion, but choked it back before she snapped at him. Really, it was probably just that he had a bad day. There wasn't a problem. Everything would be fine.

Lin bustled around the room doing some small chores as he sat at the table nursing a single cup of tea. While she made small talk, she faced away from Tenzin but kept a careful eye on him through her contact with the bare stone floor. After ten minutes of one-sided conversation, she finally stopped and asked him, "Tenzin, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." The earth and his own body proclaimed it to be a lie.

"Is it... me?"

"Of course not." Another lie.

Lin tried to keep herself centered and outwardly calm, but her thoughts whirled in a vicious storm of fear and fury. The longer she spoke to him, she could feel him trying to pull himself away from her. His eyes were on her as she moved about the room, but he looked away whenever she turned to him. What had she done that could make him act like this? Until this afternoon she had been secure in the knowledge that they shared a special rapport, that they moved and thought as one.

She knelt behind him, desperate to feel that connection again. She pressed against his back, her hands sliding around his chest to loosen his robes as she kissed the side of his neck. The reluctant way that he responded gave her another wrench of fear. That bond was there. It was the center of her world. She knew it, felt it with her whole being, she just had to show it to him.

His movements felt sluggish and his face stayed closed to her, but he reacted as he always had. Soon she was straddling his lap with her clothing in a pile on the floor, and the old familiar warmth was building. She closed her eyes and reveled in that feeling. Everything would be alright again.

As a last reassurance, she tried to coax Tenzin into taking the lead. She, who knew his body better than he did, she tried every trick she had to tempt him to throw her to the ground, press against her and smother her with his body. No matter what she did, he failed to respond. She opened her eyes in search of answers, but his face turned away from hers even as she tried to coax him back with kisses.

Suddenly furious, she was painfully aware that his ministrations were mechanical and automatic, not the tender touch of a lover aware of his partner's body and desires. Lin braced herself and pushed _him_ to the ground, pinning him beneath her legs. The way the two of them worked so well together... if she could feel it with such certainty, she had to be able to show him. It had to be possible to make him acknowledge their bond. Even if he wouldn't look into her eyes, his body responded to her as it always had. She ground her hips down viciously and took pleasure in his gasps.

Lin pulled his pants down just far enough to free his cock. She poised herself just over it and said, "Tenzin... don't you want this?" Her tone was teasing but her heart ached. When he made no answer, she bit her lip and looked away, but lowered herself onto him at an agonizingly slow pace. It took all her muscle control, but she moved on and off of him at a snail's pace. Even though he still didn't seem quite like the man she knew, she could hear his breath growing ragged and see the pleasure written on his face.

Finally, he reached up and grabbed her by the waist, rolling over so she was pressed against the cold floor as he thrust harder and harder into her. The sheer relief Lin felt was the strongest aphrodisiac she had ever known. She arched up to meet him and felt that delicious tension building between her legs. They were just as they always had been. He knew it as strongly as she did. As she felt him climax she made one last demand, but her voice was pleading.

"Tenzin, say my name!"

His face was stricken. His lips opened, but froze. He stared into her eyes for a few painful seconds, but then turned away from her. She pushed him off her, shoving him and slapping his hands when he tried to reach for her. The shock she felt was cold and agonizing. She barely felt like she inhabited her own body.

She couldn't remember afterwards what things she had screamed at him. He sat on the floor soaking in her abuse, but his calm exterior only served to infuriate her beyond measure. She cut off every attempt at apology, heaping more blame on him and getting increasingly hysterical. There was still one aching sliver of her heart that longed for him to deny the accusations, but her eyes and the earth only told her that it was the truth. Finally, she fled from the house in humiliated tears and ran through the city to find her own home and bury herself in the sanctuary she would find there.

When he got married a month later, she swore she would never forgive him.


End file.
